David Nemec is a prolific baseball writer and historian of the game. His other books include The Baseball Challenge Quiz Book and Great Baseball Feats, Facts, and Firsts. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Probably the most famous instance of an umpire awarding a runner home plate because of fan obstruction was the wild ending to the 1976 American League Championship Series that saw George Brett of the Kansas City Royals rifle a three-run homer into the seats at Yankee Stadium in the top of the ninth to tie the game 6-6, only to have Yankees fist sacker Chris Chambliss lead off the bottom half of the inning by belting a solo dinger off Kansas City reliever Mark Littell to clinch the pennant for the Yankees. In describing the pandemonium that ensued when Yankees fans, unable to control their exhilaration, began streaming onto the field almost the moment Chambliss's shot cleared the rightfield barrier, Thurman Munson later said, "By the time Chambliss got to third base all hope of reaching the plate was gone. He never did make it."

Though Kansas City made no protest and the umpires seemed inclined to let Chambliss's interrupted journey around the bases pass without comment, hours later the Yankees first baseman took time away from the team's pennant celebration to creep out of the clubhouse, accompanied by two policemen, and touch home plate to make his flag-winning run official.